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A Charter for a higher share price as investors talk up engineering battle

Gary Parkinson

September 10 2011, 1:01am, The Times

Royal Bank of Scotland was one of the losers ahead of a report on the sectorJohnny Green/PA

Buyers were back for Charter International in the hope of a knockout cash offer soon from an American suitor.

The engineer, courted both by Melrose, an acquisitive industrial group led by the veteran dealmakers David Roper and Christopher Miller, and by Colfax, a Maryland-based industrial conglomerate, was chased 20p higher to 804p.

There were whispers that Colfax was teeing up an offer pitched at 900p — sparked, no doubt, by research from Stephen Swanton at UBS, the Swiss broker.

After a chat with Colfax’s management, he urged clients to be alive to the possibility of such an offer and turned more positive towards Charter. Still, UBS found it tough to call the winner.

Melrose, which is offering a combination of cash and shares now worth…